Black Spot (Treasure Island)

The Black Spot is a literary device invented by Robert Louis Stevenson for his novel Treasure Island (serialized 1881–82, published as a book in 1883).

In the book, pirates are presented with a "black spot" to officially pronounce a verdict of guilt or judgment.

[2] The words on the back of that black spot were taken from the Biblical Book of Revelation, like an allusion to the mark of the beast and the last judgement, i.e. Chapter 29: It was around about the size of a crown piece.

One side was blank, for it had been the last leaf; the other contained a verse or two of Revelation—these words among the rest, which struck sharply home upon my mind: "Without are dogs and murderers."

[3][4]The origin of Stevenson's Black Spot might be in the historical tradition of Caribbean pirates of showing an ace of spades to a person condemned as traitor or informer.